Latest news with #MrClark
Daily Record
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
What's on in Dumfries and Galloway this spring bank holiday weekend
The dry weather may be ending, but that won't dampen the spirits with lots going on. It's the bank holiday weekend, which means it's set to be a packed couple of days across Dumfries and Galloway. The dry weather may be ending, but that won't dampen the spirits with lots going on. Friday night will see the first of the Guid Nychburris rideouts in Dumfries as preparations ramp up for the big day on June 22. Tonight's Woodlands ride-out will leave Huntingdon Market at 6.30pm and riders are asked to be there 15 minutes in advance. The procession will go along Huntingdon Road, St Mary's Street, Shakespeare Street, Nith Place, Dockhead, St Michael's Bridge, Troqueer Road, Moat Road, Stark Crescent, Holm Avenue, Rosefield Road, Ryedale Road, Solway Drive, Pleasance Avenue, Church Street, Howgate Street, Terregles Road, Hardthorn Road and Woodlands. After a stop at Mr Clark's field, it continues along Irongray Road, Newton Road, Glasgow Road, Jocks Loaning, College Road, Priory Road, Priory Avenue, Glasgow Road, Glasgow Street, Buccleuch Street, Lovers' Walk, St Mary's Street, Huntingdon Road and back to Huntingdon Market. Excitement is also building for Lockerbie Gala and Riding of the Marches with a free fun day behind Lockerbie Ice Rink on Saturday from 12noon. It will include inflatables, a climbing wall and tractor rides. The first ride-out will be on Sunday, leaving the market at 2pm. It will go along Sydney Place, Bridge Street, High Street, Mains Street, Carlisle Road, Service Road, the underpass, Gibson's Bridge, Haregills and then Burnswalk for a hospitality stop. The return is via Tundergarth Mains, Five Ways, Murrayfield Woods, Bridge Street and back to the market. This weekend also sees the popular Spring Fling celebration, with more than 80 studios opening their doors to the public. To make things easier, there are six routes visitors can use to guide them around the region. Full details are available on the Spring Fling website. Dumfries and Galloway Arts Festival continues this weekend. Sonic Lab will be performing an evening of cosmic soundscapes at the Dark Place Planetarium in Kirkcudbright from 7pm tonight. Circus cabaret act Cirqulation are coming to the region. They'll be in Lochside Park in Castle Douglas from 1.30pm on Saturday and at Crawick Multiverse near Sanquhar from 1pm on Sunday. Already under way is Knockengorroch – Dumfries and Galloway's longest running music festival. Acts set to appear in the hills above Carsphairn include Rokia Koné from Mali, African Head Charge and Formidable Vegetable from Australia. Also appearing will be Mungo's Hi-Fi, Omega Nebula, Kinnaris Quintet, General Levy, The Fontanas, Moxie, Euphonique and Serial Killaz. Dumfries Male Voice Choir will be holding their 72nd annual concert in Dumfries Baptist Church at 7.30pm tonight. Tickets, costing £10, can be bought on the door. Absolute Classics are organising a celebration of classical music with the Dabton House Festival. Starting today and running until Sunday, it features a number of outstanding performers including Scottish violinist Iona McDonald, cellist Hugo Eadle and classical singer Lewis Menzies. Tickets are available from the Absolute Classics website. Sanquhar Arts Festival will celebrate the River Nith with a series of free events. There will be several films by and with artists, poets with writing and displays on local walks and wildflowers. In particular, the festival celebrates Scots, with metaphor and allegory sustained and inspired by local poets since the 18th Century. The Kirkpatrick Macmillan Rally will offer a variety of cycling routes and activities in Upper Nithsdale to celebrate the inventor of the first pedal cycle. Rides will be led by qualified leaders, with something on offer for everyone. For more information, see the KPT Development Trust website. The popular Kirkcudbright Half Marathon and Buckland Burn-up take place on Saturday. Runners and walkers will tackle a picturesque in and around the Artists' Town. The walkers will leave Hope Dunbar Park at 10am with the main race an hour later. Children's rides and food stalls can be enjoyed by those who just want to watch. Sunday will see Corsock House garden open its doors for charity under Scotland's Gardens Scheme. This is an Arcadian garden with pools and temples and has been described by Ken Cox of Glendoick as 'perhaps my favourite of Scotland's many woodland gardens'. The gardens are open from 2pm to 5pm. Admission is £5, children free. Moffat's annual duck race will take place in Station Park on Sunday. There will be fun from 12noon to 4pm, with the race itself at 3pm. Sunday also sees Dumfries and Galloway Vintage Machinery Club hold their 46th annual rally at Park Farm in Dumfries from 10am. And if you fancy some exercise while supporting a good cause, Lockerbie and District Rotary are holding Walk the Walk round Castle Loch in Lochmaben from 10am to 1pm on Sunday. Elsewhere the same day, Dumfries and Galloway Canine Rescue Centre is holding its annual fun day dog show from 12noon to 3pm. There will be plenty of stalls, activities and a rally.
BBC News
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'West Midlands snooker league's recovery' 40 years after classic final
Forty years ago in the UK, snooker had its most widely watched moment as a peak TV audience of 18.5 million witnessed a classic on BBC was after midnight when Dennis Taylor finally triumphed over Steve Davis at the World Snooker Championship in what would be dubbed the '85 Black Ball Final'.The sport's popularity was at its height and, as a Chas 'n' Dave novelty song about the sport reached number six in the chart in 1986, it seemed many people in the heart of England were also going Snooker the era, more than 900 players were in the Staffordshire and West Midlands league and, while the sport struggled in the region at the turn of the century, fans say it is now making a recovery. One Birmingham man who did benefit from snooker's 1980s boom and all the interest since is 66-year-old Steve 48 years he installed and repaired snooker tables all over the country as well as in "Europe, Africa... all over the place".The 80s meant plenty of work for him in London too as "one company had about 26 clubs" and his timetable involved "private as well - people had them in their houses". Mr Perry remembered: "Cinemas were closing down because VHS video was coming in. Cinemas were converted into snooker clubs. They had big, available spaces."You'd have industrial units used...[Snooker] opened up in all sorts of places."It was about getting in as many tables as you could to make the money. You could have 20 tables in one club. The biggest I ever did was 30."He thought there were more snooker clubs in the West Midlands four decades ago than today and that there had also been a decline in the number of working men's clubs since the 1980s. Elsewhere in the Black Country in the 70s and 80s, some future professionals were honing their skills as the sport's popularity one of them, Martin Clark, it all started at Sedgley Ex-Servicemens watching his dad play and being taken by his grandad, one day a team member did not turn up and, aged about 12, Mr Clark ended up playing against said: "We had a big junior section at Sedgley...25, was really cheap - five pence for 10 minutes."If [a] club opened at seven, you had to make sure you were outside the club at 06.30 to make sure you got on." 'Rammed' He also played at two Conservative clubs that no longer exist, Whitmore Reans and Wednesbury, with the latter's team of five featuring four who turned professional - Steve James, Anthony Harris, Jimmy Chambers and Mr Clark won the West Midlands title for a second time in 1986 and said about 300 people packed into a Wednesfield venue for it, adding "it was rammed"."Our county side, if we were playing [say] Derbyshire or Leicestershire, we would have two 50-seater coaches," he said."There wasn't a bigger league anywhere."Mr Clark turned pro in 1987 and reached several tournament quarter-finals - but now the 56-year-old is a tournament director at many major tournaments around the world. The local league that "kick-started" his career was "still very good", Mr Clark of said league, the Staffordshire & West Midlands Billiards & Snooker Association, backed him still have nearly 600 players across five divisions which each have 16 teams in them, organisers said. That total figure of 80 teams is the same as in the current numbers represent an upturn from a low point of 66 teams and the Covid pandemic was highlighted as a factor in that secretary Mark Poole said: "There were a lot of wasn't very expensive to go out and play snooker."A lot of people played in the league for their night out in the go out with friends and have a drink and something to eat."But in the early 2000s the league started to suffer with numerous clubs closing down and this continued into the early 2010s with clubs continuing to struggle due to the smoking ban." Now though, the league has "started to recover," Mr Poole said.A snooker shootout competition of 10-minute frames earlier this season attracted what he said was a record 103 entries in one league was also due to pay out record prize money of £750 to its individual Hall Snooker Club in Bloxwich, which charges £5 an hour for a table, said it had trebled its membership in a Ryan Watton added that, when he and his wife Kirsty bought it last year, the venue already had 1,300 members but they increased that to more than 4, made "a few changes" including adding new tables, cloths and club also started its own league across the 15 Watton said: "More learning to play at a decent level."People who work outside in the winter, we know if the weather is (bad), builders, gardeners, anyone who works outside, you know it'll be busy." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
